CH 25

Zhu Qing’an: “……”

Qin Hengyi caught the thing that dragged him down ……?

His temples popped up, but at the same time he let out a sigh of relief. He was worried earlier that the ghostly hand wouldn’t let go of him, and that it would tug once every time he walked to the shallow beach.

Zhu Qing’an was grateful to Qin Hengyi, he muttered in a low voice: “Thank you. …… Then what is the …… thing you caught?”

He was curious what NPC the game would arrange in this scene.

[TN: NPC: Non Playable Character]

Qin Hengyi frowned, silent for a moment, then he leaned over the teenager’s ear and said, “A mermaid.”

Zhu Qing’an: “……??”

Zhu Qing’an: “Sh, what mermaid?”

Qin Hengyi picked him up, fish tail like lightning swimming in the sea, soon, they came to a rocky reef by the beach.

Behind the rocky reef, a strange black fish tail was faintly revealed. The black fish tail was covered with scars and tied by seaweed.

Zhu Qing’an held his breath and went over to take a look…

Behind the rocky reef was a boy.

The boy …… had blond hair and red eyes, but the outline of his features, and Qin Hengyi’s looked exactly the same, he was very handsome, just a little more youthful.

As Zhu Qing’an inner doubts rose, the text box from the game popped up in front of his eyes.

[ NPC character explanation: This new scene is the place where Qin Hengyi used to live, the NPC in the new scene – is the Qin Hengyi who lived here in the past.]

The meaning was simple, this NPC was the little Qin Hengyi who lived here in the past, when he was young.

Zhu Qing’an remembered …… the game mentioned that Qin Hengyi suffered a lot of injuries at that time, being transformed into a mermaid was one of them, resulting in his former personality being more paranoid/hostile than the current him. Like a little devil.

There was also something like this ……?

Now he had to deal with two people?

Zhu Qing’an had a headache, he glanced at the boy again.

The boy’s eyes were no longer blue, but blood-red.

He was different from the blank memory Qin Hengyi, he carried a lot of memories of suffering, looking at Zhu Qing’an, his eyes were very complex gloomy.

He pursed his lips, not saying a word.

Zhu Qing’an’s heart ached for this teenager.

He wanted to go untie the other side/binding, but he was circled in the man’s arms, the man’s tone was low and hoarse: “Don’t touch him, he hurt you.”

Zhu Qing’an: “……”

He is yourself.

[Asking player to seek contact with this NPC, from whom you can learn about your lover’s past and the game’s true secrets.]

[This NPC has been in a long period of loneliness and isolation. It needs your appeasement.]

Zhu Qing’an was silent for a long time and decided to put on a playful persona.

He lifted his head and looked at the man pitifully.

“Mr. Qin, I’m just a little curious about him, I won’t let him hurt me. Aren’t you here to protect me?”

Qin Hengyi: “……”

He was a bit at a loss when faced with the request of the child with a bit of dependence.

After a long time, he still agreed, but the eyes staring at Zhu Qing’an narrowed.

Zhu Qing’an let out a sigh of relief, stepped on the sand and carefully came to the boy’s side.

He found a hard stone and cut away the seaweed that was binding the boy.

The mermaid boy who was no longer bound suddenly reached out his hand and pulled Zhu Qing’an’s wrist.

Zhu Qing’an’s weight was unstable and he fell on top of him, with his face less than a foot away from his lips.

The boy could clearly see Zhu Qing’an’s slightly trembling eyelashes, and reddened lips and ears. The corners of his lips lightly curved, and his pale, slender fingers wrote a few words on Zhu Qing’an’s soft hand.

Zhu Qing’an: “……”

He could actually feel what the other party was writing.

–You brought the light I crave.

—I want to possess you.

Zhu Qing’an: “???”

The game waa really right. This Qin Hengyi not only had a gloomy and violent personality, but his emotions were unconcealed ……

Zhu Qing’an breathed in and reactively broke away from the other.

At the same time, he also understood this Qin Hengyi, why he wanted to pull him into the water.

At that time, he had just finished throwing the luminescent stones to the sea, and the luminescent stones were as bright as stars.

This in the eyes of the little Qin Hengyi, who lived in the darkness, Zhu Qing’an has brought light to him, it was surely greater and more valuable than anything else.

The boy lived in the sea, so he thought of bringing Zhu Qing’an into the sea …… to take possession of him.

Zhu Qing’an: “……”

While his heart ached for the boy, cold sweat broke out on his back.

Just when he didn’t know what to do, his body was carried up, reflected in the eyes of the man with angry red eyes.

Qin Hengyi was upset: “Don’t touch him ……”

“……” Zhu Qing’an still explained like a stiff duck, “Mr. Qin, he is still very young, and I love you, I won’t allow anyone other than you to touch me… …You don’t have to hurt him because of this either.”

Qin Hengyi gave him a look and didn’t say anything.

Zhu Qing’an doggedly followed Qin Hengyi to the other side of the beach. Only then was Qin Hengyi relieved and sure that he was playing by himself.

Zhu Qing’an played with a flashlight and squatted on the beach to pick up fluorescent stones.

He picked a few beautiful fluorescent stones, and then cut a section of seaweed, stringing them together to become a string of crystalline and bright star chains, glowing softly in the dark.

He could tell from the way the man looked at these fluorescent stones that the man also liked these glowing things, probably from the effects of living in the dark as a child.

Qin Hengyi was obsessed with light as a child.

But what if …… he gave this string of necklaces that glowed with starlight to him as a child?

Maybe he could draw him closer, and learn a lot about him, he could find out the secrets of the plot of this game.

Zhu Qing’an carried the necklace, when the man didn’t notice, he quietly went further.

The boy hadn’t leave, but sat on the reef, he didn’t know what he was waiting for.

His fish tail and fluorescent stones were soaked in seawater, as his scales shimmered, the scars on it were more shocking.

Zhu Qing’an suddenly took out the necklace, stepping on the rocks on his tiptoes, and placed the necklace on his neck.

The young man smiled, revealing his white teeth: “This is my gift to you. I hope you like it.”

The boy instantly froze, his hostile gaze softened.

With fluorescent stones woven into the necklace, it looked far more stunning than those on the beach.

Wearing it around his neck was like wearing a circle of stars, and the starlight always clung to him, so that the road ahead was no longer dark.

The face of Zhu Qing’an radiated brightly, but it seemed extra soft and gentle, like a pool of soft water.

The boy lowered his head, so excited that his body trembled slightly.

He became inhuman because of those messy experiments, and had to live in this sea that was always dark.

He hadn’t seen other people for a long time …… nor had he seen light.

Until the teenager gave him a handful of bright, bright stars.

The boy tugged up Zhu Qing’an’s hand and gently wrote on the other hand.

–Thank you.

Zhu Qing’an smiled lightly and narrowed his eyes.

He saw that the other party’s good feeling towards him increased, so he generously and sharply threw out his question.

“Why do you …… live here? Did you start out as a mermaid?”

The boy paused for a long time then wrote a few lines on his other hand.

— Because of some experiments, I live here.

— I wasn’t a mermaid at first, but I wasn’t human either.

Zhu Qing’an frowned, he still didn’t get the answer he wanted: “What experiment?”

— I’m not sure. I only know that if the experiment failed, I would have been killed.

Zhu Qing’an pursed his lips and was silent.

He could see Qin Hengyi as an adult, which might prove that the experiment didn’t fail and Qin Hengyi wasn’t killed.

But he felt that it was more likely that – after Qin Hengyi became an adult – the experiment hadn’t ended and was still ongoing until now. Whether the experiment failed, whether Qin Hengyi would be killed or not, was still waiting to happen in the future.

Zhu Qing’an really had the urge to go to the developer of “False Love” game, choke the other and force them to spit out the whole truth of the plot.

He would attend the banquet and meet the big man who was somewhat involved with the development of this game, so maybe he could get him to reveal the plot.

Zhu Qing’an looked at the boy with an old fatherly look of pity.

He saw that he had stayed a little too long and was afraid that Qin Hengye would find out. He jumped off the rock and said to the boy, “I’ll go first. I’ll find you next time to play.”

The boy didn’t say anything.

Fearing that the other would be unhappy, Zhu Qing’an doggedly sent out a little bullheaded praise: “Your tail is very nice.”

Your legs and waist are also very nice.

The boy thought.

Zhu Qing’an slunk away from the reef and returned to the sea where he had been.

He thought his whereabouts would never be discovered.

He took all the paths that weren’t illuminated by luminescent rocks, and his footsteps didn’t make a sound.

He also pinched a few shells in his hand, trying his best to make Qin Hengyi think that he had only gone to hide in the darkness to pick up shells.

Zhu Qing’an found Qin Hengyi not far away.

The man lurked in the darkness, his crimson eyes seemed to glow with shimmering light and looked eerily dark. The cold and slender tail intensified this temperament of his.

“Mr. Qin.” The teenager smiled, trotted all the way over and embraced the man in a wet but warm embrace.

Qin Hengyi faintly glanced at the teenager, he abruptly lifted his arms and held the teenager closer with his tail.

Zhu Qing’an grunted softly as he was stung by the scales, his skin flushed with sensitivity.

Qin Hengyi gently rubbed over Zhu Qingan’s sensitive neck, his breath making his white skin red.

He took the initiative to take the small shell in Zhu Qing’an’s hand and played with it in his hand.

He said word by word.

“You disobeyed. You went to him and gave him a fluorescent stone necklace.”

“You only gave me the shells.”